(a) Purpose. Because South Carolina
has a long history of maintaining open court proceedings and records, this Rule
is intended to establish guidelines for governing the filing under seal of settlements
and other documents. The Court recognizes, that as technology advances, court
records will be more readily available and this Rule seeks to balance the right
of public access to court records with the need for parties to protect private
information from public view. Further, the Court recognizes that, especially
in the case of settlement agreements, the parties may, by contract, agree to
settle any matter confidentially, and have the matter voluntarily dismissed
under Rule 41(a)(1), SCRCP, without court involvement.

(b) Filing Documents under seal. Should
Rule 26(b)(5), SCRCP, be inapplicable, and absent another governing rule, statute,
or order, any party seeking to file documents under seal shall file and serve
a “Motion to Seal.” The motion shall identify, with specificity, the documents
or portions of documents for which sealing is considered necessary, shall contain
a non-confidential description of the documents, and shall be accompanied by
a separately sealed attachment labeled “Confidential Information to be submitted
to Court in Connection with the Motion to Seal.” The attachment shall contain
the documents for the court to review in camera and shall not be filed.
The motion shall state the reasons why sealing is necessary, explain why less
drastic alternatives to sealing will not afford adequate protection, and address
the following factors:

(1) the need to ensure a fair trial;

(2) the need for witness
cooperation;

(3) the reliance of the
parties upon expectations of confidentiality;

(4) the public or professional
significance of the lawsuit;

(5) the perceived harm
to the parties from disclosure;

(6) why alternatives other
than sealing the documents are not available to protect legitimate private interests
as identified by this Rule; and

(7) why the public interest is
best served by sealing the documents.

The burden is on the party seeking to seal documents
to satisfy the court that the balance of public and private interests favors
sealing the documents.

Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the clerk
of court shall treat the motion to seal in a manner similar to all other motions
filed with the court.

(c) Sealing Settlements. No settlement
agreement filed with the court shall be sealed pursuant to this Rule.

(d)Orders Sealing Documents.
All orders sealing documents shall set forth with specificity the reasons that
require sealing the documents.